


Forgetting To Remember Me

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tales and Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, a princess forgot who she was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forgetting To Remember Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laughing_Phoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laughing_Phoenix/gifts).



> Dear Laughing_Phoenix, happy holidays! You asked for a fairy tale turned upside down and this is what came out. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> With thanks to my amazing beta, Vae.

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Once upon a time, a Princess forgot who she was.

No dramatic incident caused her memory loss. A rock did not strike her on her fair head. A terrible loss did not cloud her mind with grief. The Princess simply woke up one morning with no idea whom she might be. A sensible looking chambermaid came to her bed and the Princess asked if she might know her name, as she seemed to have forgotten it herself. The chambermaid answered and asked the princess her name in return. The princess replied that she did not know her own name.  
   
The chambermaid, proving herself worthy of her looks, sent two other chambermaids running for help. When the first chambermaid returned, the Royal Physician came in behind her. When the second chambermaid returned, the King himself walked in before her. The Princess regretfully informed both men that she had no idea who they might be. The King suffered a minor apoplectic fit. The Royal Physician tended to his fallen sovereign and then summoned men to help the King from the room. After gathering his composure, the Royal Physician began to examine the Princess.

An hour later, the Royal Physician had to declare himself mystified by the Princess' condition. She was in perfect physical health. She could remember how to do basic tasks, such as naming her colors. She could remember how to elaborate tasks, such as dance an intricate court dance. However, specific memories seemed to be missing: those memories pertaining to herself, her family, and their shared past were gone. He concluded that her problem had no discernible physical cause, therefore the Princess might be under a curse instead.

In his despair the King locked himself in the treasury for days at a time. There he passed the hours counting coins, losing his troubles to the repetitive clink of metal against metal. The Queen turned to the Old Magic of her people. She consulted with soothsayers and sorcerers, and witches and wise women. These learned ones confirmed the Royal Physician's suspicions: the Princess was indeed under a curse. None of them could say who had cast the curse or if the curse would ever be lifted. The Queen retreated into her compartments and mourned.  
   
The care of the Princess was left to her lady-in-waiting. The lady-in-waiting was a silly, lazy woman. As long as it didn't require effort on her part, she allowed the Princess to do as she wished. Freed of her memories of proper court behavior, the Princess did what no well-bred young lady would ever think to do. She asked questions and gave her opinions when asked questions in return. She had no idea of the purpose of a tight corset and so wore hers unfashionably loose. Her days belonged only to herself.

On one such day the Princess decided to explore the castle. She descended to the dungeons and drank smuggled alcohol with the prisoners. In the kitchens, the staff let her make a mess of flour, sugar, and eggs that the Princess called a cake. She read a banned book in the library and found it quite ridiculous. As the sun went down, the princess decided to watch its decent from the highest tower of the castle.

To her great displeasure, the Princess found the highest room in the tower occupied. A withered crone and her creaky spinning wheel took up most of the room. The Princess was about to voice her displeasure when the crone spoke her name. The old woman bid her to come close to the spindle. As one compelled, the Princess stepped forward and reached out her hand toward the spindle.

Down in the treasury and deep in her compartments, the King and the Queen remembered at the same time that each other had forgotten to relate one very important message to their cursed daughter. Each had just enough time to blame the other before they, their daughter, and the entire kingdom fell into a magical sleep that would last one hundred years.

 

Fifty years later, two faeries met in the courtyard of an enchanted kingdom.

The first fairy, the good fairy, had come to see if her curses still held.

The second fairy, the bad fairy, had also to come to see if a particular curse still held. The latter fairy was sorely disappointed to find that the curse could not be broken. She sat down on a cornerstone and glared at her faerie rival. She said that she did not understand why the impossible fairy had to curse the Princess twice over. Wasn't it enough that the “good” fairy had commuted the bad fairy's curse of death to a curse of sleep?

The good fairy shook her head. She accused her sister fairy of forcing her tiny hand. The enchanted sleep was a necessary part of the princess’ destiny. Without it, she would not become the Queen she was destined to become. The good fairy knew that out of a desire to thwart destiny, the bad fairy had disguised herself and advised the King and Queen to destroy every spinning wheel in the kingdom. The concerned parents heeded her warning. They also told their daughter of the curse and its terrible consequences. The Princess, with proper filial obedience, followed her parents' wishes and avoided spinning wheels. It seemed that the Princess would miss the fate foretold of her. Thus the good fairy had no choice but to force the Princess to lose her memories. Without her memories to better advise her, the Princess succumbed to her fate. 

The bad fairy would not hear her reasoning. She stomped her small foot and demanded that the good fairy immediately remove the memory curse. The good fairy found her request suspicious and denied it immediately. Enraged, the bad fairy departed in a fiery streak of indignation.

The good fairy smiled knowingly to herself.

 

A Prince kissed a Princess and woke her from her enchanted sleep.

The Princess sat up and looked around herself. She tried to place where she was but found that she could not do so. A very handsome young man stood beside her bier of roses. The Princess asked him if he knew her name, as she did not know it herself. When he could not tell the Princess her name, the Princess dismissed him from her thoughts. She climbed down from the bier, avoiding the sharp thorns of the roses, and went to discover more about the place she found herself in.

Her dismissal of him puzzled the Prince. To hear the bards tell it, a kiss would awaken the Princess. Upon awaking, she would fall instantly in love with the young man brave enough to face perils to reach her. The Princess would smile as he helped her up and hand in hand they would go to her parents in the throne room. The bards mentioned nothing of the Princess abandoning her rescuer to go and wander aimlessly about the castle. Nonetheless, the man followed her close behind. He knew nothing better to do than follow.

In the treasury, the King awoke with a great shout still in his throat. The Queen in her apartments found tears still damp on her face. Both of them realized what had happened. The two of them departed for the throne room separately but met in the middle. They commenced started to loudly blame the other for their misfortunes. 

As the King and Queen argued, the Prince and Princess came into the throne room. The Prince stood and watched the spatting monarchs, politely waiting for them to finish their arguments and acknowledge his presence. Without memories of proper etiquette, the Princess didn't know not to interrupt her elders while they were engaged in an argument. She broached their discussion with loud words of her own.

An hour passed without signs of the argument's end. By that time, the princess had grown tired of the fight. Her voice was strained and her shoulders drooped with weariness. Seeing a lady in distress, the Prince stepped in and offered the Princess his arm. The Princess considered the gesture and decided to allow it. She liked the way he looked, holding his arm out to her. The two left the throne room, leaving the arguing monarchs behind them.  
   
The young royals went out to the gardens. Among the hydrangeas the Prince and the Princess encountered the good fairy. She greeted them with a message of mixed blessings. While the Princess would never regain her memories, the loss was to her good. If the Princess had her memories, she would have responded to the Prince as a well-bred young woman should. She would marry her rescuer Prince because he was a suitable social match. Without her memories, the Princess would not feel bound to marry for a title. The fairy smiled at the distressed Prince as she gently told him that she knew him to be a decent man. If the Prince was patient and took the time to come to know his Princess as a person, and if the Princess did the same, between them they had the chance to have a happy marriage.

The fairy winked at them then disappeared in a shimmer of light. The prince and princess stood hand in and hand in the gardens, facing their uncertain and hopeful future together.

 

The good fairy didn't go far. She appeared in another part of the garden, to where the bad fairy sat on a rock and sulked in silent misery. The good fairy floated over to her and smiled at her. The bad fairy growled at her. Crossing her arms across her chest, the bad fairy turned away. Undeterred, the good fairy floated around to face her again.

The good fairy told the bad fairy to cheer her heart. True, she had failed to kill the princess, as well as failed to ruin her queenship. The balance against this particular child was cleared, but the formerly sleeping princess was only one of many princesses in the land. The good fairy had heard of a baby princess newly born and about to be christened. Her father the King planned a grand feast in the Princess' honor, yet failed to plan for more than thirteen fairy guests. If they hurried, the two of them might be guests six and seven, leaving a different fairy to play the role of bad fairy.

The formerly bad fairy hopped up with a shriek of delight. She and the formerly good fairy hugged joyfully and vanished in a cloud of giggles.

 

Everyone lived relatively happily ever after.

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